Igalosand and fine pebble · 600–1000 m · water ExcellentThe flattest, gentlest shore on the bay: up to a kilometre of sand, pebble and concrete platforms in shallow warm water, with the mud beach of Stara Banja at the Sutorina mouth.Igalo or Savina?
Two beaches 3.1 km apart, measured the same way. Igalo and Savina side by side, on the nine things that decide which one your afternoon should go to.
Igalosand and fine pebble · 600–1000 m · water ExcellentThe flattest, gentlest shore on the bay: up to a kilometre of sand, pebble and concrete platforms in shallow warm water, with the mud beach of Stara Banja at the Sutorina mouth.
Savinapebble · 200 m · water ExcellentThe 200-metre pebble-and-concrete shore on the Pet Danica promenade below Savina monastery, twenty minutes’ walk east of Herceg Novi’s old town.The short answer
Choose Igalo for
- sand underfoot rather than pebble
- water that stays shallow a long way out
- room — it is half again as long
- loungers, food and somewhere to change
Choose Savina for
- pebble, and the clearer water that comes with it
- real depth close to shore
Measure by measure
| Measure | Igalo | Savina |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | sand and fine pebble | pebble |
| Entry | gentle | moderate |
| Depth | shallow | deepens quickly |
| Shade | umbrellas for hire | umbrellas for hire |
| Character | organised | organised and free sections |
| Length | 600–1000 m | 200 m |
| Latest water | Excellent | Excellent |
| Crowd | busy in season | busy in season |
| Getting there | by road | by road |
Bold marks a measure where the two differ.
Each in our own words
Igalo
Igalo is a spa town’s beach, and it behaves like one. The main strand — about 600 m by our guide, 1 km by our list — is sand and pebble with concrete platforms, a gentle entry and water that stays shallow and warm, which is why the Institute Dr Simo Milošević was put here in 1949 and why toddlers and physiotherapy patients share it. West of the Institute, at the mouth of the Sutorina, the cove of Stara Banja is where the black mineral mud is dug and applied. Loungers are €8–14, there is no step anywhere between the bus stop and the water, and the Pet Danica promenade starts at the Institute door.
This is not a clear-water beach: the bay is shallow and warm rather than transparent, the promenade behind it is busy, and Stara Banja is mud on purpose.
Savina
Savina is a promenade beach rather than a bay: 200 m of pebble and concrete platforms along the Šetalište 5 Danica where it passes below the monastery wood, with loungers at €10, a beach bar and restaurants within reach, and the view straight across the water to Luštica. Its point is the combination — a swim, then the climb through the pines to the three churches of Savina, or the other way round. Herceg Novi’s own swimmers use it; the boat crowds do not.
Much of the entry is off concrete edges rather than a sloping beach, and the promenade runs directly behind you — this is town swimming with a monastery above it, not a cove.